Mircea Dincă

Nominations for the 2026 Chemical Science Lectureship are now open! 🎉

Details here: rsc.li/chemsci-lectu...

We’re looking for candidates who have made significant contributions to the field of digital chemistry, AI, ML, and automation within the last 5 years. Nominate before 2nd March!

#ChemSky

Mass and heat transport are just two theories among many. Like immaculate mixing

Our first paper since the #MOF #NobelPrize and first collaboration with @stecanossa.bsky.social!

Alice performed one of the most detailed studies of MOF ion conductivity, rationalizing trends in cation type, charge carrier conc., and vacancy sites based on structure.

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Made it back to MIT for PhD defense #22! Proud of our newest PhD Dr. Alice Su, who opened new roads for us in ion and mixed electron-ion conductors with several of her most exciting papers coming out soon! Window sticker still standing 😀

And affordable lattes and avocado toast 😊

Wait, seems like I should be there!😅

Fantastic choice! Congrats Chris! @christhechang.bsky.social

The Pope wants to preserve creation. MAGA wants to destroy it. The contrast between good and evil couldn’t be more striking at this moment in history.

How will we ever undo the firing of hundreds of dedicated NSF officers and staff, adding to those from NOAA, NIH, etc; thousands of shuttered projects; thousands of students missing out on a science-based education? Malicious and just plain stupid does not even begin to describe these decisions!

High-capacity water sorbent cycles without hysteresis under dry conditions - Nature Communications There is a lack of water sorbents capable of cycling water vapor under dry conditions without hysteresis or decomposition. Here, the authors demonstrate that the anionic MOF SU-102 exhibits high-capac...

Exicted about our new work on the really unusual (and highly informative) water capture properties of the SU-102 MOFs. A shoutout to @keninge.bsky.social and his group for ongoing work with this awesome series! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Or imagine having fewer journals, as most are unnecessary

High-Connectivity Triazolate-Based Metal–Organic Framework for Water Harvesting Increasing the connectivity of structural units presents a potentially valuable approach to improve hydrolytic stability in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). We herein leverage this strategy by synthesizing the first tritopic benzotriazolate MOF, Zn5(OAc)4(TBTT)2 (H3TBTT = 2,4,6-tris(1H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol-5-yl)-1,3,5-triazine), which exhibits open metal sites, high connectivity, high porosity, and significant water uptake capacity. The MOF adopts a previously unknown topology with (3,6,6)-connectivity, which is supported by single-crystal electron diffraction and elemental analysis. The framework undergoes postsynthetic metal and anion exchange with NiCl2, which increases the accessible pore volume and the net hydrophilicity of the framework. With this exchange, the apparent BET surface area increases from 1994 to 3034 m2/g, and the water uptake step shifts from 56 to 33% relative humidity (RH). The high gravimetric capacity of the Ni-rich MOF, 0.98 g/g, translates to a working capacity of 0.64 g/g during a pressure swing cycle between 20 and 40% RH at 25 °C. Combining this performance with a less than 2% loss in working capacity over 100 cycles, the new material rivals the best MOF water sorbents to date.

It's been a while since we had a synthesis-driven paper. Fun write-up, with a rare new topology. On top of that, great water sorption characteristics, from talented undergrad Karla Ravin (now a grad student at Princeton) and @jules-oppenheim.bsky.social pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

@psychologyuea.bsky.social Standing with our scientist colleagues in the US and around the world, because science is for everyone #StandUpForScience

High-Energy, High-Power Sodium-Ion Batteries from a Layered Organic Cathode Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) attract significant attention due to their potential as an alternative energy storage solution, yet challenges persist due to the limited energy density of existing cathode materials. In principle, redox-active organic materials can tackle this challenge because of their high theoretical energy densities. However, electrode-level energy densities of organic electrodes are compromised due to their poor electron/ion transport and severe dissolution. Here, we report the use of a low-bandgap, conductive, and highly insoluble layered metal-free cathode material for SIBs. It exhibits a high theoretical capacity of 355 mAh g–1 per formula unit, enabled by a four-electron redox process, and achieves an electrode-level energy density of 606 Wh kg–1electrode (90 wt % active material) along with excellent cycling stability. It allows for facile two-dimensional Na+ diffusion, which enables a high intrinsic rate capability. Growth of the active cathode material in the presence of as little as 2 wt % carboxyl-functionalized carbon nanotubes improves charge transport and charge transfer kinetics and further enhances the power performance. Altogether, these allow the construction of SIB cells built from an affordable, sustainable organic small molecule, which provide a cathode energy density of 472 Wh kg–1electrode when charging/discharging in 90 s and a top specific power of 31.6 kW kg–1electrode.

Best sodium-ion battery cathode out there, bar none! High energy, high power, long lasting, safe and cheap batteries made from C, N, O, H, and Na! #organicbattery #Sodiumbattery pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

One of the more creative reports in this space I've seen in a while! Congrats!

Seeking a new PhD/MSc Candidate for Fall 2025

Synthesis of energy or health materials / advanced characterization methods / solid-state and DNP NMR

International/National deadline is Feb 1, 2025

Contact us for more info. #chemsky General program details: www.ualberta.ca/en/graduate-...

Mixed Ionic and Electronic Conductivity in a Tetrathiafulvalene-Phosphonate Metal–Organic Framework Mixed ionic-electronic conductors have great potential as materials for energy storage applications. However, despite their promising properties, only a handful of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) prov...

Our latest work on a proton–electron dual-conductive MOF based on tetrathiafulvalene(TTF)-phosphonate linkers is now out in #JACS !⚡ Fantastic collaboration with @mirceadinca.bsky.social, Joaquín and other friends from Aveiro pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.... @ciqus.bsky.social @mofpapers.bsky.social

You can do it! 😉